An anti-tax rally over retail marijuana in September gave away free pot and also tried to rally people against Proposition AA, a taxation ballot issue. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post)

The campaign backing a measure to impose new taxes on recreational marijuana has out-raised tax opponents by more than 17-to-1 and outspent opponents by 22-to-1, a Denver Post analysis of campaign finance reports shows.

The Committee for Responsible Regulation, the campaign group formed to support Proposition AA on this year’s ballot, has raised about $67,000 in monetary and in-kind contributions as of its most recent finance filing earlier this week. The group opposed to the tax, simply named No Over Taxation, has raised about $3,800 in monetary and in-kind contributions, according to its filings.

Tax proponents have also vastly out-spent opponents, but the large majority of the proponent’s expenditures have gone toward paying consultants and fund-raising expenses. The Committee for Responsible Regulation has spent about $52,000, with nearly $50,000 of that falling under the category of “Consultant and Professional Services.”

Among the consulting expenses are $14,000 to the political firm RBI Strategies, $8,000 to marijuana activist Steve Fox, $8,000 to communications professional Joe Megyesy and $10,000 to the law firm Vicente Sederberg. All of that money — $40,000 in total — went to people and groups that worked on the successful campaign to legalize marijuana, which gave rise to the tax vote.

Fund-raising expenses account for about another $1,600 of the proponent’s expenditures. Aside from $4,997 spent on a website and $245.29 spent on a podium and podium signs, the proponent’s filings do not reflect any expenditures on outreach efforts.

Lynn Bartels thinks politics is like sports but without the big salaries and protective cups. The Washington Post's "The Fix" blog has named her one of Colorado's best political reporters and tweeters.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.